Are You Sharing the Decision Making with Your Patients?

Many naturopathic doctors believe they are already making shared decisions with their patients. However, they may be confusing the informed consent process with a shared decision-making process.

Posted in Naturopath on Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Many naturopathic doctors believe they are already making shared decisions with their patients. However, they may be confusing the informed consent process with a shared decision-making process.

Shared decision making is a collaborative process that allows patients and their providers to make healthcare decisions together.¹  It does not replace the informed consent process but enhances it.

The informed consent discussion reviews the risks, benefits and alternatives of a specific treatment, including the option of doing nothing. Shared decision making takes place before the informed consent discussion and goes beyond it to recognize and discuss the patient’s values and preferences. 

Shared Decision Making

S – Seek the patient’s participation

H – Help your patient explore and compare treatment options

A – Assess the patient’s values and preferences

R – Reach a decision with the patient

E – Evaluate the patient’s decision (review and revisit)

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has a wide range of tools and training materials to incorporate the shared decision-making model into your practice. 

Shared decision making has been recognized as enhancing the quality of care, better aligning expectations, managing costs, and improving patient satisfaction and outcomes. While there is not yet evidence to confirm it, it’s likely that shared decision making mitigates risk.

Practice Incorporation

Shared decision making can be incorporated in every aspect of your practice: 

• Single treatment situations
• Multiple treatment scenarios
• Preventative care/screening decisions
• Chronic care decisions
• Lifestyle discussions
• Life stages (lifelong care) consultations

Once shared decision making becomes part of your patient-centered care, make sure to document the conversations. 

¹  _{http://www.informedmedicaldecisions.org/shareddecisionmaking.aspx}